What could have happened
by MGD
Summary: This is my take on what could have happened during "Unfaithful". I posted this earlier. I cleaned up and edited the last version. No medicine, just character interaction.


How things could have gone

A/N: I wrote this after seeing the previews for the 'Unfaithful' episode. This is how I thought things could play it out. In my version, House threatens to fire 13 and not Foreman. I thought he was hired back by Cuddy and was safe from House's wrath w/o approval from her. I left out the medicine since its just a one-shot. Remember I just write, neither created or own. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

**House's Office, Joint Conference Room**

Thirteen looked at him with contempt and disgust. She huffed a quick 'fine' before stomping out the door. Leaving Foreman and House in the conference room, they engaged in a staring contest. Foreman stood looking down at House with his arms crossed over his chest. House stared back with a delighted smirk on his face twirling his cane around the fingers of his left hand. Foreman broke the silence, "What is this, a test?"

"Games are over. I lost you and 13 on the last case due to the great cause of love. 13 has an opportunity to take her crusade to save the world wherever the all powerful Oz wills and keep her great sacrificial lover. Or, maybe you're terrified that she'll pick her job over you," House searched him for any tell.

Foreman remained stone-faced, "I'm not playing this game with you, House."

"You have no options. You've alienated yourself by acting like me. No hospital administrator in their right mind will hire you. After the stunt with 13, no research company, drug or otherwise, will touch you. You need this job," House fired back raising to his feet.

"Why now? You did nothing when Chase and Cameron were marking their territory all over the hospital and in a patient's home," Foreman tried to reason.

"Chase convinced our sweet little Cameron to pump uglies in a patient's house? Nice!" House proclaiming with an evil grin.

"No, it was Cameron's idea," Foreman shook his head at the comment, "House, she needs this job. A doctor is who she is."

"Your job defines you," he responded.

"This isn't over House," Foreman threw a threatening finger in his direction. He spun around on his heel and stormed out the door. House dropped his smirk and glanced at Foreman's retreating back.

**Outside Patient's Room**

Foreman watched 13 as she gently caressed the patient's shoulder as she passed on reassuring words. He stopped her as she emerged from the room.

"Leave it alone, Eric," she stated proceeding down the corridor to the lab.

"I won't let him do this," he responded.

"Leave it alone. I'm not playing these games," she fired back.

"Don't walk away from this," he pleaded.

"Leave it alone," she stressed each word, "Looked at what happened the last time you tried to protect me."

**House's Office**

"Did you really fire 13?"Wilson popped his head into House's office.

"Good to know that the rumor mill grinds on," he murmured.

When House didn't look at him, Wilson dropped his mouth open wide in shock. "It's true? You actually fired 13, the hot girl-on-girl doctor," he gaped.

"No. Gave her and Foreman an ulimatum. Did you know that Cameron convinced the pretty boy to tango in a patient's home?" he answered.

"Why the test?" he asked.

"See if she can handle the job and be sick. Liability to my patients. Screw around with Foreman. Torture Cuddy. Strike fear into the hearts of horny little boys everywhere," House rambled off a mix of lies and truths.

"Yeah right. Why do you have a sudden obsession with 13 and Foreman? Unless this is not just about 13 and Foreman, you need to push their relatonship until it breaks," Wilson analyzed, "Why now? What's the sudden interest in this relationship?"

House rolled his eyes, "Thank you, Dr. Phil. If you're done psychoanalyzing, we could get back to Dr. Goodbody jumping Kangroo Jack."

**House's Office, Joint Conference Room**

House blocked 13 as Taub and Kutner left to perform the latest onslaught of tests on their patient. 13 danced back and forth with House trying to escape the conversation she had been avoiding all day. "What do you want?" she cried out in frustration.

"Have you made a decision?" House asked.

"I'm not playing this game, House. You can't fire us. There's no hospital policy against co-workers dating," Thirteen fired back disdain evident in her voice.

"Wrong. I can't fire if you for dating Foreman, but I can fire you for not doing your job. Your relationship severely effected your presence on the last case," House argued.

"I had a tumor in my brain. I couldn't see. Do you really think Cuddy is going to let you fire me for having a tumor?" she laughed off his absurd logic.

"She will if she believes that it could cost a patient's life," he threatened.

"Why are you coming after me? Why are you not making his threats to Foreman?" she accused his intent.

"He threatened his career to lessen your misery. He would have sacrificed his career to try to save you. This is the only place that will have him. You have options. Besides, Cuddy hired him. You, on the other hand, work for me," House stood with his cane centered in front of him as both hands rested on the top.

"Whatever you're trying to prove, it isn't going to work," Thirteen gritted through her teeth as she maneuvered around House.

Before she could retreat from the office, House called after her, "The decision is simple. Do you love him as much as he loves you? If you do, there really isn't a decision to make."

**Cuddy's Office**

Cuddy looked up from the mountain of paper work in front of her for a split second to eye Foreman walking in to her office. She waved him through the doors. "Is this important? I don't have much time," Cuddy stood shuffling through the files.

Foreman began, "We need to talk about House."

**Clinic Exam Room**

House claimed to be with a patient when he heard a quiet knock on the door. Cuddy opened the door to find his feet propped up on the bed with a celebrity rag draped over his lap. Her eyes flickered with anger at the scene. "We need to talk about Foreman and Thirteen," Cuddy knocked his feet off the bed and leaned against it, where his feet previously occupied.

"What about the lovebirds?" House chirped.

"You can't threaten them like this. Do you realize the lawsuits that they could file against the hospital with the threats that you've made?" Cuddy crossed her arms over chest accentuating the low cut of her blouse. House quickly turned his attention upward from the current article that he was reading. Cuddy positioned her body so that she towered over him, and he would have to push her out of the way to stand.

"Which one of the little tattletales came running to mommy?" he whined.

"This is serious. Thirteen had sufficient cause to take leave from work. She was blind, for the love of God," Cuddy continued.

"It wasn't Taub or 13. He's avoids confrontation, and 13 has too much pride to ask for help. I bet it was Kutner or Cameron. They seem to take personally satisfaction in trying to make me human," House was suddenly cut off by an angry growl from Cuddy.

"Would you stop? You're deflecting. What's the game, House?" Cuddy demanded.

"There is no game. I lost half my team on the last assignment. The current relationship puts my patients in jeopardy. Plus it would be nice to have a functioning team so I CAN DO MY JOB," House stressed the last words trying to shout them in Cuddy's ear. Cuddy pulled back from his raising voice giving House room to stand up. He seized the opportunity and positioned himself in Cuddy's personal space.

Moving her hands to her hips, Cuddy argued back, "Why help Foreman with 13 if you intended to make one of them leave?"

"I'm just protecting my department. In fact, you should be thanking me. This is protecting the hospital. I doing your job since you're too busy playing Supermommy to do your job," he steered the conversation into the who-is really-to-blame territory.

Cuddy stepped forward causing House to retreat a step back. She continued to push forward until he fell back into the chair that he had vacated. The anger in her expression was enough to make him look away and avoid her gaze. He had pushed too far. Cuddy literally growled like a lioness, "Never use my child as a threat, insult, or bargaining tool. If you ever bring Rachel into this little jockeying game that we play, you will regret it, House."

Recovering from the fierceness of her stance, House resorted to a familiar line, "Then, do your job."

"I'm trying. It would help if you could refrain from being an ass to every single person you come across. I'm trying to stop you from pissing off fellows. You actually like these people and can work with them. When did you start obsessing on who is screwing who? You didn't use it against Chase and Cameron when they were bunny bumping throughout the hospital," Cuddy tried logic to deal with him.

House tried weakly, "It effects my patients."

Cuddy laughed at his retort, "Ha! You don't care about the patients. All you care is the puzzle. This is all a game to you." Cuddy suddenly went silent as she recited her last words in her head. Her eyes burned brightly at the revelation. She continued, "That's it, isn't it? This is a game. You need to test their relationship. Figure out which is stronger, their feelings for each other or their commitments to their jobs."

House was avoiding her gaze when she realized the real intent behind his test, at least the one pertaining to them. Suddenly, he got that familiar Eureka expression on his face and stopped midsentence in his denial of Cuddy's revelation. He rushed out of the room with the solution to his latest puzzle.

**House's Apartment**

"Hold on!" House shouted to the moron that was pounding furiously and repeatedly on his door. When he finally pulled the door open, Foreman stood before him with fury written all over his face.

"I quit," he exclaimed before turning to leave.

"You don't have anywhere to go!" House shouted before he could exit the building.

Foreman stopped and sighed. His shoulders dropped in defeat. "It doesn't matter. I'll survive. She needs this," he spoke to the air.

"Is 13's happiness really that important?" House inquired.

"Yes," Foreman answered with determination in his eyes.

"There are other things that she can do," House tried to reason.

"No, House!" Foreman began to shout, "No more games! No more manipulation! I'm not doing this anymore. I don't work for you anymore. I don't have to listen to it!"

House walked up to Foreman locking eyes with him. With a serious expression, he told his protégé, "You're ready."

Sighing in resignation, he took the bait and asked, "For what?"

"To do what I do," he simply stated. Foreman sneered at the ambiguity of the response and exited the building.

House walked back to his apartment and stopped by the end table by the door. He picked up a reminder that Cuddy had left him about the naming ceremony that night. House opened a drawer on the end table and dug until he found a silver box. He threw it in his backpack and grabbed his coat before darting off into the night.

**Cuddy's House**

"You're late," Cuddy greeted House as he walked into an empty house. Everyone had gone. By the looks of the scattered glasses and plates, it looked as if Cuddy was cleaning up after guests.

Without spurting a proper hello, House moved into the living room setting his bag down. He extracted a silver box from it. He gave the box to Cuddy without explanation. Cuddy smiled knowingly at the gesture and asked him if he wanted a glass of wine. He nodded and ushered her to open the box. Cuddy yelled to Wilson to bring a glass of wine and the baby when he came out of the kitchen. House stiffened when he realized that they were not alone.

House turned to see his friend shuffle out of the kitchen juggling the football and two glasses of wine. Cuddy had already ripped into the package that he had handed her. Wilson handed House a glass of wine and motioned for him to take Rachel. House shot him a look like he had lost his mind. Wilson unceremoniously pushed Rachel into his arms. He shoved the wine glass back to Wilson in order to get a firmer grip on the baby. House and Wilson were silently shooting threats and daggers at the other when Cuddy drew their attention with a loud gasp.

"House?" she muttered, "Is this? Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes," he turned his eyes to Rachel to avoid the analyzing glance of Wilson.

Cuddy pulled an old charm bracelet from the box. "I thought I had lost it," she responded holding the bracelet like an ancient lost treasure.

"I found it after you left," he explained.

"You kept it all these years," she stated more than asked.

"Yes," he murmured again.

"Hilarious," she narrowed her eyes. House noticed she had found the Supermommy charm that he added to the bracelet. "You're an infuriating enigma," she whispered shaking her head. Wilson turned to House with a smug smile as he witnessed a private moment of affectionate from the self proclaimed meanie. Wilson grabbed his coated, kissed Cuddy on the cheek, bid goodbye to House and Rachel, and walked out the door.

Rachel started to fuss as Wilson left. House pouted at her fussing. Cuddy smiled at his discomfort. Motioning for him to follow her, she directed him towards the nursery. She pointed to the changing table while she grabbed pajamas for Rachel. She instructed House to hold Rachel still as she changed her. House fled the nursery when Cuddy took the baby to put her down to bed.

"Why are you here, House?" Cuddy questioned when she emerged from the nursery.

"Need a favor," he turned to face her, "Foreman quit. I need you to hire him back."

"I can't," she replied, "He falsified a drug trial, put his medical license in trouble, and could have destroyed the hospital's reputation in research. Frankly, he should have been fired."

"Cuddy, he's ready. It's time," he said.

"I'll think about it," she answered.

House leaned against the couch staring at Cuddy while she leaned against the wall. "Are we going to talk about this?" Cuddy asked.

"Nope," House stood up straight and grabbed his bag. Cuddy walked him to the door. They smiled at each other in the door way.

"You know you could try picking up where you left off," Cuddy suggested crossing her arms under her chest.

"Trying to earn the right to wear that MILF shirt you have tucked away," he countered clenching his hands as he remembered that their last verbal battle had glorious spoils in the end.

"Goodnight, House," Cuddy smirked closing the door.

"Night, Cuddy," he headed to his bike.

**Thirteen's Apartment**

The next morning, Foreman was startled from sleep by a sharp phone ring. He grabbed his cell phone flipping it open quickly without checking who the caller was. He loomed gently over Remy's sleeping form to see if the phone had awaken her. She remained still. Foreman murmured a muffled hello into the phone ready to berate House for calling this early. The bright tone on the over end surprised him.

When he returned to the bed, Remy was propped up on an elbow with her right eyebrow arched high as a curious expression graced her face. She asked, "Who was that?"

Foreman slid into the bed next to her pulling her right hand off her hip and lacing his fingers through hers. "It was Cuddy," he answered.

"I assume that the game is over," she questioned.

"Yes. She offered me a job," he replied.

"Don't you already have a job?" she spoke in a confused tone.

"It was a proposal that she offered the last time I quit. I turned it down. Back then, I just wanted to get as far away from House as possible. Apparently, it's back on the table," he explained.

"What proposal?" she inquired sitting up straighter in bed.

"I would have my own diagnostic group separate from House. My own office, team, and full autonomy," he responded.

"What are you going to do?" she asked in a hushed voice as she re-laced her hand in his.

"I don't know. He said that I was ready," Foreman looked like he was a million miles away, stuck in thought.

A/N: I was hoping that the producers would progress Foreman's character. Instead they put him back where he was when he returned. Is it me, or have the storylines been moving at snail pace this season?


End file.
